sports The New York Mills wrestling team started its season with a strong showing at the Dan Unruh Memorial Invite in Wahpeton, N.D.
The Eagles finished fourth in the 16-team tournament, with two wrestlers winning individual titles. Returning state place winners Shane Novak and older brother Jordan Novak picked...
Perham, 56573

Perham Minnesota 222 2nd Avenue SE 56573

2013-03-04 19:38:14

The New York Mills wrestling team started its season with a strong showing at the Dan Unruh Memorial Invite in Wahpeton, N.D.

The Eagles finished fourth in the 16-team tournament, with two wrestlers winning individual titles. Returning state place winners Shane Novak and older brother Jordan Novak picked up where they left off last season to claim individual championships.

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Shane pinned Jacob Aberle of Lisbon, N.D. in the finals at 103 pounds, while Jordan won his title at 145 pounds with a 3-1 decision over Rij Koehnen of Frazee. Both Novak's were No. 1 seeds in the tournament. Jordan was a State runner-up last season.

Also reaching in the finals and placing second in Wahpeton was 215-pounder Jarrod Norton, who was pinned by No. 1 seed Scott Schiller of West Fargo. Norton was seeded second at 215 pounds.

New York Mills had two wrestlers finish third and two more place fifth.

Seth Hofland, a No. 7 seed, won a 5-2 decision over Mike Hauge of Minnehaha Academy/DeLaSalle in the third place match. Landyn Saewert also wrestled a good tournament for the Eagles. The senior placed third at 285 pounds with a 4-0 decision over Jesse Grothe of Minnehaha Academy/DeLaSalle. Saewert, seeded No. 2 in the tournament, lost a 13-4 decision to Chad Karber of Brookings, S.D. in the semifinals.

Placing fifth for the Eagles were Tommy Selander and Maison Roberts. Selander entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed by lost to Abbot Aho of Fergus Falls in the quarterfinals. Selander came back to defeat Jordan Ketter of Frazee, 4-2, to place fifth.

Roberts lived up to his No. 5 seed in the tournament. After losing to Bruce Lemon of Frazee in the quarterfinals, Roberts battled back to finish fifth with a 6-3 decision over Wyatt Aberle of Lisbon.

The Eagles finished with 150 team points, nine behind third place Fergus Falls. West Fargo ran away with the tournament by racking up 256 points and Frazee was second with 193.

We had a tournament that we can build on," head coach Eric Niemi said. "We placed seven out of 12 wrestlers with strong performances out of the guys who didn't place."

"For this tournament, we needed to go top-five to start out," Niemi added, "Now we need to find ways to fill our line-up and become a competitive dual team."

Mills Quad

The Eagles will host Staples-Motley, D-G-F and Badger/Greenbush-Middle River Dec. 11 at the Mills Sports Center.

Action will begin at 5 p.m. with NY Mills taking on B/G-MR and D-G-F going against S-M. at 6:30 p.m., the Eagles will face D-G-F, and S-M will go against B/G-MR. The final round matches are scheduled for approximately 8 p.m.

Junior high matches will take place in the high school gym starting at 5 p.m.

On Dec. 15, Mills will host Park Rapids in a dual scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Sports Center.